A 58-year-old man from Mumbai allegedly murdered his partner of nine years, dismembering her body with a chilling methodicalness before feeding the parts to stray dogs.
Manoj Sane stands accused of gruesomely killing Saraswati Vaidya, 32, then using an electric saw to sever her into numerous pieces to evade police detection. His macabre operation reportedly lasted three days until he was apprehended by authorities.
Upon entering the couple’s home in a respectable suburban complex, officers were horrified by the living conditions they uncovered.
Assistant police inspector Rahul Bhagvat said: “The kitchen was a complete mess – there were buckets and multiple pots and pans full of chopped and minced human flesh.”
Investigating a foul odour reported by locals, Bhagvat along with police inspector Jilani Sayyad were first on the scene, where they found a blood-stained electric saw just inside the door—this harrowing detail being cited by Hindustan Times, reports the Mirror US.
Scattered human remains awaited the police in various locations: in the basin, contained in three buckets, and inside a pressure cooker; even a pair of severed feet were discovered resting on a ledge.
Authorities detained Sane on Wednesday, 7 June 2023, for murder charges. Having met orphaned Saraswati, 26 years his junior, back in 2014, they had subsequently set up home together.
Police surmise Sane had calculated that by effectively disposing of Saraswati’s remains, no one would miss her and he could vanish without a trace.
The foul odour of decaying flesh was first detected by Somesh Shrivastav, a resident of the flat opposite Sane’s, when he returned home for lunch on Wednesday. Upon investigation, he found that Sane’s flat was locked.
At 4.30pm, Shrivastav encountered Sane on the stairs and informed him about the unpleasant smell. “He was carrying a black backpack and he seemed restless. He told me that she would return home at 10.30 in the night and resolve the issue,” Shrivastav said.
However, suspecting something amiss, the neighbour raised an alarm. Contrary to his initial statement, Sane arrived home at 8pm instead of 10.30pm and was subsequently detained by the police.
“It was only when we saw the news on television late on Wednesday night that we found out about the murder and also, for the first time, the names of our neighbours in flat 704,” said Shrivastav.
Sane provided several accounts to the police regarding his partner’s death, initially claiming that his girlfriend had committed suicide by poisoning herself, fearing he would be accused of abetting her suicide. Later, he confessed to the police that they had quarrelled over his suspicions of her infidelity, leading him to stab her with a knife.
Sane was taken into police custody, while the dismembered remains of Saraswati were dispatched for post-mortem, as per Jayant Bajbale, deputy commissioner of police. “We have also recovered a few knives and cutters from the kitchen in Sane’s flat and are trying to confirm which of them was the murder weapon,” an officer from Nayanagar police station disclosed.
Saraswati, who had been raised in an orphanage in Borivali, encountered Sane at a ration shop where he was employed in 2014. Having left school early, Saraswati became increasingly reliant on Sane financially before the couple started cohabiting in the Mira Road flat three years prior.
Their neighbours were aware of their frequent and vociferous disputes but described the pair as rather reclusive, with no one truly acquainted with them.